The News
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: April and Casey are incapable of having a child and decide to adopt. But this brings about new life changes for our favorite turtles and their human friends. After all, how will our fearsome four get along with the newest addition to their human family?
1. Chapter 1

_The News-_

October.31, 2010

"Are they here yet?" Mikey asked excitedly as he peeked out of the kitchen where he had been busy since morning making treats for all of them. His three older brothers had been in the middle of decorating the lair with stuff. Like orange and snot green and black glittery streamers that would hang down just enough for the spooky plastic spiders attached to them, to hang down to just above their heads.

As his eldest brother pulled a disco ball out of a cardboard box and tucked it under one arm then took a nice flying leap from the pipe he'd been standing on overhead and grabbed the extension and quickly hung the disco ball and then let go so that he could free fall back to the floor. Where he landed easily on the balls of his feet and just stood there checking out his work.

The second oldest, paused what he was doing to glance towards the door of their home and sighed before replying, "Nah, man. They ain't here yet." And it was true. Of course he understood how Mikey felt- they all did- given that it had been over three months since they had seen their human family in their home.

Three months since their master and father, Splinter had quietly passed away in his sleep.

Three months since the funeral and the late night phone calls from their friends- checking in on them.

To be honest they hadn't really thought that they would celebrate Halloween this year, but the sudden excited call from Casey earlier in the day had convinced them that it was past time to stop moping around and move on and it would seem that April and Casey had 'awesome' news to kick things off. And like Mikey and the rest of his brothers, Raph hoped it was _'the news'_.

The big news that he and his brothers had been praying for ever since April had come to the lair one day and told them that she and Casey were trying for a baby. That had been close to seven years ago- and the four couldn't think of anyone more deserving than their two friends. So they continued to decorate the lair while secretly hoping that today would be the day that April and Casey told them that their world would expand just a little bit more to include a new person.

Mikey made an impatient sound and disappeared back into the kitchen, making all three of his brothers laughs softly at his antics. Poor Mikey. He was trying so hard to contain himself. He'd even gone to the trouble of making a bunch of Halloween treats ranging from healthy to so sugary sweet that it could put all of them in a diabetic coma.

He'd told them earlier that if April finally was expecting then there was no way he was letting her eat junk when she was in the lair. And though Don had tried to explain that that wasn't his call- Mikey had just given him a really scary look and growled out that April wasn't fattening up his little partner in crime before the kid was even born.

Nu-uh. No way.

Anyone who had a problem with his rule could just stay the hell out of his kitchen.

"Are they here yet?" Mikey asked again. Well- called out, rather.

This time he didn't even bother peeking out of the kitchen. Probably because he was removing something from the oven... It smelled like- like... _cookies!_ White chocolate chip and macadamia nuts. Mmmm, but their little brother knew how to cook.

"Do I smell cookies?" A familiar voice asked from the doorway of the lair, causing several crashes in the kitchen before Mikey showed up and ran at breakneck speed towards the person the voice belonged too.

"April!" And next to the pretty red head was a grinning Casey.

"Hey guys. Sorry about not being here sooner- we had to run an errand across town and traffic's a bitch."

"Casey!" Raph called out as he waved at his best bud in the entire world. "Get down here and gimme a hug ya dork."

"Careful Raph or my wife might think you're trying to steal me from her." Casey said as he jumped over the railing of the stairs and hit the floor running. It wasn't often that Raph handed out hugs. And after a three month absence, the man would take what he could get before Raph and his personality caused things to get weird.

April didn't say anything about Casey's joke. She was too busy hugging Leo, Don and Mikey while juggling the thick plastic binder in her grasp. "Hello guys."

There was a small chorus of 'hello's' from the guys that ranged from awkward to shy when Don noted the binder in April's hand and curiously slipped it from her grasp before she could stop him and flipped it open and checked out a few pages before making a humming sound and then turning to face her again and asked, "Is this what you and Casey needed to talk to us about?"

You could have heard a pin drop a mile away the moment the question left his mouth. Truly you could have. And the look on April's face... it was really all the confirmation that he and the others needed. But since his brothers had no idea what was in the binder- and Don seriously doubted that Casey had taken up a creepy new hobby then it was good that they had asked to hold a meeting with them since what happened tonight would determine all of their future's.

"Alright," Don said as he reached out and took one of April's hands in his. "Everyone find a place in the living room to sit down- this might take a while." Don said as he led April down the stairs with Leo and Mikey behind them.

(****************************************************************************************************************************************)

Downtown-

Violet blue eyes stared blankly at the sea of faceless people walking on the side walks as breath came out in small puffs of cold air. It was Halloween again. What was this? The fourth- no, fifth year that she had sat in some alley watching the parade of trick-or-treaters ranging from every age and gender and nationality walk the streets collecting candy, and other nice goodies. With their parents or guardians waiting for them with smiling faces.

God it was sickening.

There was so much goodie-goodie bullshit going on right now that she felt like throwing up.

What? Did the citizens of the city all get together last week and have a mass meeting about how if they dressed their kids up all nice tonight and gave them candy and stuff they could somehow alleviate the darkness slowly swallowing the city and it's people?

Half of the people she saw walking around tonight would die tomorrow. Either by poison, or razor blades in their candy, or some accident, or perhaps some other means. It made no real difference she supposed as she tried to block it all out. The sights, the smells, the talking and the laughter- it was all giving her a headache. A really bad one.

"I don't wanna be here..." She muttered to herself as she brought her legs up against her chest and sighed heavily. She didn't want to be here, Her head was starting to ache pretty badly by now, but for some reason- something told her that she _had_ to be there.

Right. There. In. That. Spot. And no where else.

She'd had this overwhelming feeling for a while now. Maybe a month or longer. And she came here everyday and waited for several hours (just in case) before turning in for the night. However so far, everything she'd done was for nothing.

 _Tomorrow's another day-_ She thought she could hear someone say right in her ear, in a warm tone. She shivered against the cold weather and made a small huffing sound before bothering to get up off of the dirty ground and stretching her limbs a bit. Her long dirty black braid slipped over one of her slender shoulders, and fell to her knee before she made a frustrated sound and grabbed it and tucked it back into place under her loose hat so that none of the pimps in the area would make her as a girl.

Otherwise she might find herself in a bad situation even worse than her current one...

(****************************************************************************************************************************************)

Back at the Lair-

The guys crowded around April and Casey as the binder was placed in the middle of their little circle and waited patiently for someone to say something when Aprils finally said, "We found out several weeks ago after seeing another doctor that I'm incapable of having children..." To say that the guys were stunned would have been an understatement. A taser gun couldn't have shocked them more.

And that's really saying something given how they had all been tased at one point or another.

"So... April and I talked about it after driving by a place for kids-" Casey said awkwardly. "That maybe the fact that she- er sorry babe," Casey said when he got a dirty look from his wife. " _We_ can't have children of our own is a small blessing in disguise. I mean, there are tons of kids in the world who need good homes for one reason or another and so-"

"Casey and I have decided to adopt. But before we do, we wanted to talk to the four of you about our choice because it's not just our life that will change... You're family too. And we don't want to lose you- But this is really something we really, really want, however not if the cost is so great that we lose you guys forever. We want a child that can keep a secret since we can't afford to have you all exposed..."

"But just in case it was okay with you guys- we went ahead and picked out a few candidates. And wanted you're opinions on them," Casey said as he reached out to the binder and flipped it open. "We decided that we wanted a girl between the ages of seven and thirteen." Casey said as he showed the guys the picture of the first kid before turning the page.

"Not to complain or anything, but why so old?" Mikey asked curiously, just a little out of sorts since he had expected a picture of a baby when Don said.

"It's because the older kids are more difficult to place. Due to the fact that they aren't babies the chances of them finding nice people to adopt them is practically nil."

"O-Oh." Mikey said as he flushed slightly with embarrassment. "Okay then. So what are you guys looking for in a child?" Mikey then asked April and Casey.

"A girl," April said quickly, and smirked when Casey snapped his fingers because she had beat him to the punch gender wise before she went on to say. "Someone bright-" Don smiled slightly thinking that April didn't really want a kid. She wanted a fellow partner in crime and tinkerer.

"Imaginative, and nice-" Casey added.

"Someone pretty. After all she's going to be our little girl. And as parent's we'll have bragging rights." April said with some pride as she exchanged a look with Casey who just gave his wife of nine years a goofy grin as he snatched a cookie from the plate Mikey had placed them on and popped it into his mouth.

"A good sense of humor-" April continued as she opened the folder full of several dozen children and their profiles and set them in front of her adopted younger brothers.

The four turtles each picked up several pictures and profiles and systematically began to skim over each one, noting various things about each child. Dark hair, different colored eyes and skin, ages, health and so on knowing that their meeting with April and Casey would likely last for several hours or more before they could safely give any input on their friend's idea.


	2. Chapter 2

_The News-_

November.6, 2010

April sat on the turtle's couch absently rubbing at her forehead. A nervous habit that she had developed after meeting them indicating that she either had the mother of all headaches- or a serious migraine on the way.

The same binder filled with children's files and pics laid discarded for the moment on the coffee table in front of her as she let her hand fall to her lap while finally leaning her head back against the back of the couch while the turtles all silently observed her for a moment before Raph finally decided to ask the troubling multi million dollar question that seemed to be on everyone's minds.

"Any luck?" He ask, careful to keep his tone light despite sensing her frustration and distress while he moved to stand just behind where she was seated and reached out to wrap his fingers around her nape. Though he was the rougher brother of the four- very few knew that Raph was secretly able to help people relax just by kneading the muscles of one's nape with his strong fingers.

It was actually a talent that he'd learned from Splinter as a child and something he was very proud of since it often helped his brothers and friends when they were on the verge of panicking or feeling some sort of emotional turmoil.

April lifted her head a little bit as she felt his fingers go to work on her neck and breathed a small sigh of relief when some of her tension drained away and the muscles underneath his hand slowly began to unknot. "No." She replied tiredly as she let her eyes drift closed for a moment.

Who knew that searching for a child to adopt could be so frustrating and exhausting?

It wasn't that finding a child to love was difficult- any of the files she had on specific children would have fit that purpose alone. But with the guys to consider, plus personality traits, looks, age, gender, intelligence and so on- there were just so many variables that had to be taken into consideration.

After all once the paper work and legal stuff was out of the way, it wasn't like she and Casey could just abandon the kid if she didn't conform to their ideals.

That would be wrong. Not to mention downright cruel.

And she didn't want/feel like being cruel.

Besides, she had poured over each and every file in her possession dozens of times and while each child was a likely candidate for adoption... She and Casey couldn't adopt them.

Some of them had health problems, personality problems, juvenile records- And as weird as it seemed, those weren't the main issue.

The main issue was that her association with the turtles often put her and her husband in the direct line of fire with street gangs, Bishop, and the foot clan.

And while she wished she could adopt one or more of the children she had been considering, she needed a kid that was old enough to follow orders if something should happen. Someone who understood that 'run' meant run and 'jump' meant right the fuck now- no questions asked.

And frankly she just couldn't see any of the little girl's in the files understanding that. Which made the fact that she and Casey wanted to adopt seem pretty damn hopeless right now.

Not that she would ever say that out loud. Not to the guys. Not when they might figure out her problem and be hurt by it.

Sensing someone standing in front of her, April opened her eyes and saw Leo standing there staring at her. His blue eyes unblinking as he studied her, his expression blank for a moment before he sighed and turned and quietly walked over to the dojo and disappeared inside with a slam of the door.

Startling his brothers.

And April just knew that he'd been able to read her without asking a single question, and was now angry. Not at her, but at himself and his brothers for always seeming like a burden to her and her husband.


End file.
